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Friday,
April 19, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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The
standoff in Parliament Pervez lets loose
terror |
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Who
cares for India’s prestige abroad?
A woman
of substance
Who
funded the fundamentalists?
Should
universities waste funds on astrology?
Sex
hormones raise cancer risk
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The standoff in Parliament THE Gujarat situation has prevented Parliament from transacting its normal business for four consecutive days. One hopes the government and the Opposition will be successful in finding a meeting ground tomorrow when the Deputy Speaker of the Lok Sabha, Mr P. M. Sayeed, has called an all-party meeting of floor leaders. The Opposition led by the Congress is pressing for allowing the members to express their views under Rule 184 whereas the government is adamant that this should be done under Rule 193, which does not entail voting. Both sides have, however, relented a little. The Opposition has scaled down its demand from an adjournment motion to a discussion but with voting. The government, which was initially opposed to any debate in Parliament on Gujarat, has come down to what the Opposition and one of the ruling NDA allies, the Telugu Desam, have wanted since the very beginning of the
session—a discussion but only under Rule 193, which means without voting. The Treasury Benches are endeavouring to save themselves from an embarrassing situation which may be created when a debate on Gujarat leads to a vote on the subject with some of the NDA partners led by Mr Chandrababu Naidu's TDP siding with the Opposition. This will not affect the life of the government, but the Opposition's and the TDP's viewpoint will be upheld. The demand for Chief Minister Narendra Modi's will also get more force. Is this the way to run the august House of the people? Forcing the session's adjournment for four days will do no good to the nation. According to the latest calculation, Parliament's proceedings cost the national exchequer Rs 17,677 every minute and Rs 79.55 lakh per day. Parliament should never be shy of taking up a matter which has assumed the status of a national crisis. Do the developments in Gujarat not fall in this category? They do, and the government should have accepted this at the initial stage itself when it knows that its existence cannot be put in jeopardy. The TDP is only interested in making a point in view of its political compulsions. It cannot afford to leave the NDA bandwagon. Thus the government should have no fear with the BSP too now in its camp. But what happens in Parliament may not necessarily lead to the Gujarat crisis coming to an end soon. Reports suggest that a large section of the people do not have faith in the law and order situation there even when more than 50 days have elapsed since the state came into the grip of communal madness. Most minority students have expressed their inability to gather courage to take their annual examinations which have got under way despite the Modi government offering them police protection. Their plea is that the police has become undependable following its questionable role during the harrowing experience the state has undergone. The children are the nation's invaluable asset and deserve all kinds of support. Their loss of a precious academic year will be a national loss. The parliamentarians must end the stalemate in the House quickly and devote their time and energy to restoring the people's faith in the system in Gujarat, industrially the most
progressive state of the country. |
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Pervez lets loose terror SO, what is new that needs to be taken note of in Pakistan? Nothing really. The more things change the more they tend to remain the same in the benighted country. Look at the tactics being adopted by General Pervez Musharraf to ensure a legitimised five-year term for himself as President. He swears by the Constitution. He swears by the rule of law. Pray, was throwing Mr Nawaz Sharif out of power a legal act? Since its inception Pakistan has seen four military dictators overthrow elected governments and then manipulate the system to give legitimacy to their rule. The change has been in the faces of the dictators, not in their style of functioning. From Ayub Khan to Yahya Khan to Zia-ul-Haq to President Musharraf it is the same old pattern. Since General Musharraf is in the thick of a campaign for getting himself a five-year term as President through a nationwide referendum, he is literally pulling out all stops to show to the global community the scale of his popularity. His dictatorial tactics suit America because his continuation is crucial to its Afghanistan-centric long-term plans in the region. Make no mistake that he would have launched a similar campaign for remaining in power even if America was not with him. However, the backing of the only super power does help and the General is taking full advantage of American dependence on him. The press has been muzzled as never before. An inconvenient question draws a public snub from the President. Some have even been handed over their letters of dismissal on reaching office. Hell hath no fury like a dictator scorned - particularly a dictator that enjoys the backing of the most powerful democracy in the world. Anyone who is coming in his way is being eased out. A high court judge who was under pressure to rule in favour of President Musharraf's illegal acts as being legal has chosen the honourable way out. Justice Tariq Mehmood of the Baluchistan high court deserves a round of applause for daring to speak out against President Musharraf and the dirty tricks he is using to get a five-year term. He told the media that he was under pressure to deny that he had quit the Election Commission because there was no legal basis for the General to seek a five-year term. He said, "I cannot sit on a judge's chair while lying". He categorically denied the planted news that he had left the election commission because he was recalled by the Baluchistan Bench. Of course, journalists and judges are easy meat for the military dictator. He knows that the real threat to him comes from organised political action against his rule. So, any politician who can make life uncomfortable him has been implicated in cases of corruption and other crimes. Mr Nawaz Sharif was put in jail, before being allowed to leave the country on the condition that he will quit politics. But Ms Benazir Bhutto has remained active while in self-imposed exile. She is a thorn that gives the military ruler sleepless nights. There is little he can do to silence her as she operates from outside the country. However, the moment he got wind of her decision to return the accountability court was promptly activated to make her change her mind. She had planned to return in the company of some international media personalities. However, now that she has again been declared a proclaimed offender, will Ms Bhutto take the risk of returning? |
Who cares for India’s prestige abroad? THE BJP National Executive met in Goa and dispersed. The ruling NDA met in Delhi thereafter. Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi went back from Goa triumphantly with the party mandate to prepare for elections in the state after dissolving the assembly. These are factual events but much more has taken place in the past few days which may impinge upon the destiny of the country. The idea of holding a mid-term poll in Gujarat is obviously to reap the benefit of the polarisation which has taken place in the state since the Godhra tragedy on February 27. Assembly elections are due in Gujarat only late next year and at present the BJP commands a comfortable majority, holding 115 of the 182 seats in the House. Mr Modi’s scheme and the BJP’s backing are, therefore, nothing less than a cynical and cold-blooded exercise in communal politics. This impression is buttressed by the fact that the Chief Minister had conducted a quiet survey in the state which reportedly indicated an overwhelming BJP victory, thanks to the communal polarisation. Should the BJP National Executive, and the Prime Minister in particular, have supported and encouraged the Gujarat Chief Minister in his venture? During his visit to Ahmedabad on April 4, Mr
A. B. Vajpayee asked the Chief Minister to uphold “Rajdharma” and also reportedly overruled Mr Modi’s idea of holding a mid-term poll. Eight days later it was a different Vajpayee who spoke at the BJP rally at Goa. Mr Vajpayee said that if the Godhra incident had not happened, then whatever followed also would not have happened. “What happened later was deplorable but we have to ask questions like who started the fire?” Mr Vajpayee also said that wherever there were Muslims in the world there was strife. “Once Islam meant toleration, truth and compassion, but what I see now has come to mean forcing their opinion through terror and fear. Islam is run on jihad now.” He spoke more as a sectarian bigot than a philosopher- poet and a moderate saffronite as he was known all these years. Opinion is unanimous that Mr Vajpayee’s “mukhota” is now gone forever and he has revealed himself what he has always been - a swayamsevak of the RSS. The BJP President, Mr Jana Krishnamurthy, added his own by underwriting what the RSS said at Bangalore recently by stating that the welfare of the minority depended upon the goodwill of the majority, and also characterised the Godhra incident as the handiwork of Pakistan’s ISI. He added that the time had come to reassess the situation and reassert the BJP’s stand on various issues. It does not require extraordinary skill to understand what pushed the BJP leadership to this point. The BJP conclave came after the shocking reversals in the assembly elections in UP, Uttaranchal and Punjab, and this was capped by the most shocking outcome of the Delhi Municipal Corporation elections. The party leadership felt that the very future of the BJP was in grave peril and if the chorus for dismissing Chief Minister Modi was conceded the organisation’s existence itself would be at stake. This explains why the BJP leadership has now taken a tough Hindutva stand, obliterating whatever distinction remained among the RSS, the VHP, the Bajrang Dal and the BJP. Reaffirmation and reiteration of the Hindutva doctrine by the BJP may have ruffled a few feathers of the so-called secular constituents of the NDA, but they have been exposed for what they really are - a set of self-serving, power-hungry politicians. They are happy to proclaim their distance from the BJP ideology and some of them like the TDP are content with supporting the NDA from outside and at the same time, taking full advantage by getting so many concessions from the Centre. Others like Ms Mamata Banerjee are only waiting for bits and pieces, which will be thrown to them in due course. Home Minister
L. K. Advani indicated in Goa that there would be a Cabinet reshuffle at the end of the Budget session, and this hint is enough for them. In the South, Ms Jayalalithaa, who was responsible for bringing down the Vajpayee government a little more than two years ago, is now assiduously pushing her way back, with the Prime Minister Vajpayee willing, into the NDA. The other Dravidian party, the DMK of Mr M. Karunanidhi, which is a constituent of the NDA, will also no doubt remain in the NDA whether the AIADMK is admitted or not. Ms Mayawati’s BSP has also been accepted as the Chief Minister of UP, with the BJP joining as a coalition partner. The BSP is then another supporter, if not a constituent, of the NDA. And as for Mr Farooq Abdullah, the less said the better. Such is the flavour of Indian politics. The Congress, the Samajwadi Party and the Leftists have resorted to an adjournment tactic and even a no-confidence motion may not be ruled out, but Parliament session would limp through till it concludes in May. The MPs return to their constituencies and the administration reverts to its usual routine. Does this mean that nothing has changed in the country ? Far from it. It is no exaggeration to say that seismic changes have taken place in the nation during the past six weeks. The most important of them is the Gujarat holocaust and its consequences. It would be relevant to reproduce parts of the eyewitness account by the well-known IAS officer, Mr Harsh Mander, who has since resigned from the service in protest against the administrative inaction in Gujarat: “The pitiless brutality against women and small children by organised bands of armed young men was more savage than anything witnessed in the riots that have shamed this nation from time to time during the past century..... What Gujarat witnessed was not a riot but a terrorist attack followed by a systematic, planned massacre, a pogrom. Everyone spoke of the pillage and plunder being organised like a military operation against an external enemy. The leaders were seen communicating on mobile telephones from riot venues, receiving instructions from and reporting back to a coordinating centre. Some were seen with documents and computer sheets listing Muslim families and their properties.... The police is known to have misguided people straight into the hands of rioting mobs. It provided protective shield to crowds bent on pillage, arson, rape and murder and was deaf to the pleas of desperate Muslim victims, many of them women and children.” The newspaper reports that the police firing in the early days resulted in the death of only Muslims, many of whom were shot in the head, and that the early arrests under POTA were all Muslims may be recalled in this connection. And now comes the report prepared by three British diplomats, after touring Gujarat: The death toll was around 2000 (against the official figure of 850), the violence in Gujarat was pre-planned and the continuing violence was aimed at removing Muslim influence from parts of the state, that the VHP and the Bajrang Dal were the main instruments for realising the ghettoisation of the Muslims. The team also put the figure of Muslim destitutes at 1,00,000 and Hindus at 40,000 and said that the conditions in the relief camps were miserable. There was a full page advertisement in the national dailies on April 14, issued by a large number of Indian associations in the USA. They are Hindus, Christians, Muslims and Indian-Americans, appealing to the Prime Minister to stop the killings in Gujarat at once. If any one in the government, either in the Council of Ministers or in the administrative machinery, thinks that events in Gujarat and the findings of people whose views carry weight will not have any long-term consequence, that person should be blind and deaf. The Western countries have appealed for strong measures to restore peace. The West Asian Muslim countries are also watching and their reaction would have been very critical but for their preoccupation with Israel’s total onslaught on the hapless Palestinians. India’s prestige has taken a deep dive in the international community, and it will take a long time to retrieve it. At the very minimum, the Prime Minister and his colleagues should ensure the restoration of normalcy in Gujarat, rehabilitate the destitutes and restore confidence. The elections can wait there. Let there be a sense of priorities and let there be some clear thinking. The writer is a former Governor of West Bengal and Sikkim. |
A woman of substance WHEN I married a man in uniform many, many years ago, time and again, as if to check up on me, people would say “so.... you’re an ‘Army’ wife — do you enjoy being one? My answer was always a whole-hearted “yes”. Then when my husband was about to retire, it would be “How do you feel now that you’re leaving”? “I feel sad” I would say — “it’s like leaving home”. They don’t ask questions any more, instead, whenever I reminisce about my years as an “Army” wife with a certain amount of nostalgia, I am reminded rather rudely: “It was different in your days. It’s not the same any more. Everything has changed”. And so it has but — “hasn’t everything else also changed”? I challenge, for I’m a “die-hard” Army wife having spent the major portion of my adult-life in the “Olive Green world”. Years ago, when we were posted in Chandimandir — a cantonment near Chandigarh, I was requested by Prem Bhatia to write an article for ‘The Tribune’ about my life as an Army wife. I wrote about my experiences from day one as a 2nd Lieutenant’s wife to that of an Army Commander’s wife, which I was then. I wrote about the “culture” shock that hit one straightaway, especially if there had been no service background. The gypsy type of lifestyle — moving from place to place every few years, ready to “up and go” at short notice. If you’re up north in the valley, it’s most likely you’re heading for the Nilgiris on your next posting. There was a silver lining though; we got to know the local language and culture. A service family is Indian in the true sense of the term. I mentioned the lack of married accommodation — being on the “waiting list” for what appeared eternity, and then at the end of which one qualified for a single room, or a semi-thatched house called a “Basha”! Accommodation became the most important word in a Service wife’s vocabulary. Long separations were part and parcel of one’s life, as was the loneliness of being posted to “back and beyond” “one horse” towns, where you couldn’t look beyond the mess boundary line. I found the Army ethos awesome! An Army wife was low on priority in her husband’s life. Nation, Army, Troops everything was placed up above us and our egos took a nose-dive! I learnt to admire the grit, pride and loyalty of the soldier — the largeness of his heart in making room for the wife and children. Most of all, I wrote about the camaraderie that helped me get through the culture shock, the gypsy-type of life-style, — the loneliness. There was sharing and caring and concern, during times of stress like during the wars, when nobody knew who would get the dreaded news. We reached out to each other in times of sorrow when a loved one was lost. And — how can one forget the human relationships that are forged over the years? The hellos and good-byes that seem to last a lifetime? I remembered with a certain amount of satisfaction the lessons that I learnt as an Army wife, for, being one meant a life-time of learning — where money was not the bottom-line, but coping was, and I had mastered the art. A few months after the article was published, a young lady walked up to me at an Army luncheon. She thanked me for having written such an article. “It helped me make up my mind to marry a man in uniform”, she said and promptly presented a smart young officer as her husband. That was 16 years ago. Last weekend, at an informal Regimental dinner, my neighbour at the table asked: “Remember me? I am the one who was influenced by your article and married a man in uniform.” It took a little while for it to register. Then it all came back. “So — any regrets?” I asked, “or are you happy?” “Absolutely happy” she said beaming. I heaved a sigh of relief and was glad that in my own little way I had touched another life. |
Who funded the fundamentalists? THE crisis in the Islamic world did not begin on September 11. It began in 1973, when the oil price was suddenly hiked to about 30 dollars a barrel and the Arabs found themselves among the richest in the world. Before World War I, there was nothing which could be called an “Arab economy.” And the world was indifferent to the Arabs. Discovery of oil in the twenties was the first break. But prices were ridiculously low. In 1946 oil sold for two dollars a barrel! It rose to 36 dollars by 1979. The world was awash with petrodollars. And with that Arab fortunes changed. With a 35 per cent share of world oil production, billions began to flow into Arab coffers. They did not know what to do with all the money. They built places for the royal families (the Saudi family alone consists of 30,000 souls). And, as is common with all those who come to wealth without their effort, they wanted to share their fortune with God. The Arabs made huge donations for building mosques all over the world. It created a false religiosity. And they did something worse: they gifted huge sums for the construction of madarasas to propagate the Quran. That is where Satan stepped in and took over the “good’ work. He used these huge funds to promote Islamic fundamentalism. No, the money was not spent to promote education, but to spread hatred against other peoples. Terrorism was the final outcome. Arabs are thus responsible for the crisis in the Muslim world. They must accept the charge and mend their ways. The developing countries were the worst to suffer. They were not only bankrupted by the hike in oil prices, but also destabilised by the growth of fundamentalism and terrorism. In India, we had a longer story. It began with the “two-nation theory” — that Hindus and Muslims are different, that they cannot live together. That theory is still at the root of the problems of this sub-continent. The world of Islam is yet to denounce it. Or, does it believe in it? Am I concocting a story? Here is what Benazir Bhutto told the Wall Street Journal: “We unknowingly sowed the seed for the 21st century terrorism, now unfolding around us.” The seed came from the Arab world. She went on to say: “It was a grave error to train and arm the extreme elements of Afghan society.” Extreme elements are convinced that the world is against Islam. Rushdie says: “The terrorist wraps himself in the world of grievances to cloak his true motive.” And on his true motive, this is what he had to say: “Whatever the killers were trying to achieve, it seems improbable that building a better world was part of it.” In fact, the fundamentalists and terrorists were engaged in pulling down what generations had built. As for the “better world” they built, we had a look at it in Afghanistan, where half the people — the women of Afghanistan — were driven into purdah and perdition for ever. How is it that all reforms in Islam end up with external changes? Prof Ziauddin Sardar of King Abdul Aziz University in Jeddah writes: “By emphasising the precision in the mechanics of prayer and ablution, length of the beard, and mode of dress, they (the clerics) have lost sight of individual freedom, the dynamic nature of many Islamic injunctions and the creativity and innovation that Islam fosters within its framework. They have founded intolerant, compulsive, and tyrannical orders, and have provided political legitimacy to despotic and nepotistic systems of government. They have closed and constricted many enquiring minds by their insistence on non-objective parallels, unending quibbles over semantics. They have divorced themselves from human needs and conditions.” Prof Sardar is forced to admit in sorrow: “We have given free rein to fascism within our midst and failed to denounce the fanatics who distort the most sacred concepts of our faith.” It is unfortunate that there aren’t many Sardars in this country or in the wide world of Islam. More often, the effort is to cast the blame on others. Thus the CIA is blamed for the depredations of the Taliban. Prof Edward Said says: “For the Right, Islam represents barbarism; for the Left, medieval theocracy; and for the Centre, a kind of distasteful eroticism.” So, there, the world is at fault for everything! Bin Laden believes that America is responsible for all the ills of the Arab world. Saudi students — one and all — blame the USA. Well, the USA has much to account for the state of the Gulf countries, for its feudal vestiges, lack of democracy and primitive social norms. But how is one to account for the general backwardness of Muslims all over the world? Mecca and Medina, the holiest places of Islam, are in Saudi Arabia. They attract millions of pilgrims. They bring in unprecedented prosperity. And no doubt, power, too. And yet it prefers to present an image of primitivism — as the most backward Arab country. Saudi Arabia is the largest producer of oil. It receives a huge revenue. And yet discontent has grown so much that it produced a Bin Laden. But he is only a symbol of the malaise. Saudi students say that life has become difficult in Saudi Arabia. Not long ago, a student had 10 job offers before he completed his education. Today, he hasn’t even one. In 1980 per capita income was $ 28,000. Today, it is less than $ 8,000. There is unemployment and growing corruption. A Saudi students says: “There is nothing to do here but to sit around, watch TV and smoke sisha.” There are only two options before a Saudi young man, according to a Saudi: either to take to Islamic militancy or to go into exile. It is indeed a hopeless situation. That is why many of them joined Bin Laden in Afghanistan. No wonder, the USA has lost its faith in Saudi loyalty. It is planning to shift military bases to Qatar. If it does so, it can bring about a total collapse of the Saudi system. With unpredictable consequences. |
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Should universities waste funds on astrology? THE UGC directive to a number of universities, reportedly issued at the behest of the Union Ministry for the Development of Human Resources, to introduce Vedic Astrology as a science subject has expectedly generated a lot of heat. Our profound reverence for the Vedas notwithstanding, the UGC move does appear to be an inadvertent attempt to throw the nation back to dark periods of medievalism, superstition and obscurantism. It also means the negation of the spirit of rationalism, logic, scientific exploration and analysis. That this should happen when brilliant scientists everywhere, including a galaxy of Indians, are taking us farther and farther along the path of satellites, super computers, robots, information technology, genetics and biotechnology is all the more lamentable. How come that Vedic Astrology is to be treated as a science subject? Science represents systematised knowledge and strives to explore the truth through rational enquiry, analytical/investigation, and rigorous laboratory tests and experiments. Can we claim the same for palmistry, numerology or any other branch of Vedic Astrology? The laws and principles enunciated by science have universal validity and unfailing accuracy. But what about the reliability of predictions made by astrologers? Muni Vashisht, undoubtedly among our most highly revered, learned and spacious sages, must have made the best possible astrological studies and calculations before deciding upon most auspicious moment for Lord Rama’s coronation. But instead of coronation, there followed the exile for 14 long years. The royal family of Nepal is known to have placed absolute faith in their astrologers, who obviously failed to foretell the most gruesome massacre in their land-locked kingdom. Such examples can be easily multiplied to show that unlike scientific discoveries, astrological observations made even by the most reputed masters, often prove to inaccurate and hence are undependable. A wedding procession proceeding according to the schedule drawn by an astrologer may be converted into a mourning procession through some quirk of fate. Had there been cent per cent accuracy and reliability in astrology, the world would have been far happier. If only an astrologer could forewarn us regarding the Gujarat earthquake, or hurricanes, tornadoes, flash floods, air disasters, train mishaps or road accidents! But, alas, no astrologer would tell us in advance about a murder, an abduction, a robbery, a violent strife, a Malta tragedy, a plane hijack to Kandahar, and so
on. If astrologers can’t predict and help avert such catastrophes, what good can they render to society? If everything is to happen as ordained by God and as predetermined according to our fate, where is the role of astrology? Is it not better that our time and energy be devoted to those pursuits which may hopefully bring a better tomorrow for ourselves and our brethren? A scientist who makes a better train, a genetist who helps evolve better vegetables and cereals, a researcher who opens up a new vista in an endeavour to conquer cancer or AIDS, a psychiatrist who enables us to get rid of some of our tensions and inner conflicts, an economist who shows a better path to development, an architect who builds reasonably good and cheap houses for the houseless, an engineer whose work gives us better telecom and Internet services, a man of letters whose creativity produces things of beauty giving joy for ever, are evidently greater benefactors of mankind than the whole lot of astrologers. A doctor who insists on matching the
DNA and other vital things in the would-be bride and groom is their greater well-wisher than the astrologer insistent upon matching their horoscopes or astrological charts. If astrology still claims to study the impact of planets and stars upon our lives, what about those stars and galaxies which are still to be discovered? How will they change the course of our lives? If different scientists study the same phenomenon, they would invariably reach the same conclusions as their approach is objective. But different astrologers, working subjectively often come out with different findings even while studying the same configurations of stars. This again shows the UGC in poor light when it commands that Vedic Astrology be included in the curriculum of the science faculty. Our universities, already constrained for funds, will be better advised to leave astrology — Vedic or non-Vedic — alone, and dedicated themselves to those pursuits which will make us better and happier human beings on this planet. The writer is a former Dy Director Higher Education, Punjab. |
Sex hormones raise cancer risk BRITISH scientists have confirmed what many researchers have long suspected — that raised levels of sex hormones in older women can double their chances of developing breast cancer. In an analysis of nine previous studies from Britain, the USA, Italy and Japan, scientists from the British Charity Cancer Research UK have shown that postmenopausal women with high levels of oestrogen and testosterone were most likely to suffer from the disease. Dr Tim Key, whose research is reported in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, said: “Our research may allow testing to predict a woman’s risk of breast cancer and could provide leads for improved drugs to prevent the disease”. Reuters Red meat gene linked with cancer A gene involved in digesting red meat also is highly active in cells taken from prostate cancer tumors, a finding that could lead to new dietary and chemical treatments to prevent the disease. Cells removed from prostate tumors showed a nine-fold increase in activity by a gene called AMACR as compared to healthy cells, a team of researchers at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore found. The AMACR fatty acid molecule is found in high levels in dairy and beef products. The gene of the same name produces an enzyme that helps break down the fatty acid. Previous studies have shown that diets high in red meat are linked with an increased risk of prostate cancer.
Reuters Fixing baby immune system Doctors using a genetically-engineered virus have cured infants whose crippled immune systems were not able to fight off disease. Traditionally such infants, who are sometimes called “bubble babies” because they must live in sterile environments out of contact from other people, are treated with bone marrow transplants. While these babies usually die within a year without a marrow transplant, such transplants rarely produce a complete cure because finding a donor is not easy. But the new technique, which involves removing bone marrow from the child, treating it with a genetically-engineered virus and returning it to the baby, completely cured four of the five infants on whom it was tried.
Reuters |
The eternal, pure and blissful Self abides in the heart, the chamber of light. Within the heart there is a beautiful flame the size of your thumb. It is full of knowledge, full of love. This divine flame gives lustre to your body. It gives power to your mind. This divine flame in the cave of your heart allows you to love others. The cave of the heart shines brilliantly: it blazes with a self-born light. Without either sun or moon, the cave of the heart is lit by itself. The silence of the heart is luminous and completely peaceful. From this sacred place it flows into the rest of your life. — Swami Chidvilasananda, Gems from The Magic of the Heart *** The real heart is not part of your physical mechanism at all. The real heart exists in the soul — it is the centre of the soul. The physical heart is the centre of the body and the spiritual heart is the centre of the soul. They both exist together, side by side. Just behind the physical is the spiritual heart. When the physical heart starts opening, you will have ripples in your physical heart too. They correspond, they are very close together. When your spiritual centre starts opening you will have love attacks. Your body will feel the trembling, the restlessness. Soon it will settle and when it settles you will have a new Being. — Osho, Sufis: The People of the Path, Vol. II *** God is not a person but only a presence. God is a presence at the innermost core of your being. — Osho, The Goose is Out |
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